


Like Animals

by KyraP



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Mental Breakdown, Notes, Psychological Drama, School, Stalker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6557158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyraP/pseuds/KyraP
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reader goes to school on a rainy day, supposedly like any other. But as the day goes on, a series of little notes are sprinkled throughout her day, each more possessive than the last, slowly eating away at the reader's mental health.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

(Name) was walking to school, like any normal morning. The sky was a damp grey color, threatening to pour piercing cold drops on the icy streets. The sounds of laughter from her classmates reverberated through (Name) as if she was invisible; the only problem was that she wasn't. She looked around and noticed, even more than usual, how different she was compared to her more outgoing classmates. She didn't like all the gaudy things every other girl felt the need to drape on themselves, nor did she wanted to show as much skin as even one of the more frugal "normal" girls, especially in weather like this.

She arrived at the school and headed inside. But the moment she stepped inside of the halls she felt like something was amiss, something was different, almost foreboding. Glancing around her she didn't notice anything different out of the ordinary, most other students ignored her, except for the few she shared a class period who waved and mumbled a faint, "Hello." But she felt eyes on her, like someone was expecting something from her. No matter where she went, those eyes felt like they were burning a hole in her, and no matter how she tried to hide it, they frightened her.

Warily, she trudged toward her locker and opened it. She quickly gathered her belongings, eager to get away from the gaze that threatened to cut straight through her. Just as she was about close her locker, she saw writing on the inside of the locker door in black sharpie. 

_"Baby, I'm preying on you tonight._   
_Hunt you down, eat you alive._   
_Just like animals,_   
_Animals,_   
_Like animals."_

Her body stiffened in fear, dropping all her books and supplies in the process. Muttering an quick obscenity she kneeled to pick up her books, hearing the snickers of her peers around her, as to be expected. But what she didn't expect was a pair of legs kneeling down to help her. She looked up and saw a face that didn't look too familiar; he had sandy blonde hair, crystal blue eyes covered by a pair a of rectangular glasses, and a slight tan from the now non-existent sun. (Name) saw him around campus, but only heard his name from others.

_Jones... right?_ (Name) thought, _Yeah... Alfred Jones I think..._

He handed her her books with a smile that quickly turned into an expression of concern and confusion, "What's goin' on bro?" He asked, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"No," (Name) lied, "I'm fine, just getting a bit tired."

He looked like he was about to say something, but before he could form words he wanted to say his group of friends passed by and called out for him to come with them. He pursed his lips and waved goodbye to (Name) before following his friends.

_Not yet,_ he reminded himself, _Just be patient._

Relieved that the feeling of eyes on her were gone, (Name) trudged to her first period: World History. She sat in the back and hoped that the writing on the inside of her locker was just a prank to scare her, but she knew it probably wasn't. There was a combination lock on her locker, which only she knew the sequence to, and no signs of a forced entry; so someone had to not only be able to write that on her locker without arising suspicion but know the combination to her locker off the top of their head (if they didn't they would be standing there for an extremely large amount of time, enough to annoy even the most determined prankster). 

_Maybe someone is watching me,_ (Name) shivered at the thought. But before she could fully shake off the thought, the bell rang, forcing her to focus on something else.

The teacher walked moments after, followed by a few other students, and proceeded to lecture the class on numerous battles during WWII. Which battles precisely? (Name) didn't know or care, she learned to tune this teacher out a while ago. They never asked anyone questions, and everything they said came straight out of the textbook, which they had to take notes on after their lecture anyway. Her eyes drifted toward the window next to her, wanting to get mind off the message on her locker door, but on the pane of glass, right at her eye level, was a yellow post-it with the same handwriting as the one inside her locker. She nearly fell out of her chair in shock and quickly looked around to see if anyone saw her. Luckily everyone was either sleeping or too engrossed in the lecture to notice her minor blunder. She leaned over, careful not to let the teacher see, and yanked the yellow slip off the window.

_"Maybe you think that you can hide,_   
_I can smell your scent from miles._   
_Just like animals,_   
_Animals,_   
_Like animals._   
_Baby, I'm..."_

(Name)'s eyes widened and stuffed the post-it in her pocket. _It's a prank,_ She reminded herself, _They just want to see me flustered and panicked. Don't give them the satisfaction._

"Open your books to chapter 18 and take notes on the entire chapter," The teacher said snapping (Name) out of her panicked thoughts, "Due at the end of the period on Thursday." 

The entire class groaned in response, but worked on the notes nonetheless. (Name) grabbed her textbook and opened it to the assigned chapter, eager to do anything to put her mind off of the disturbing notes. She grabbed her notebook and flipped it to the page she bookmarked so she wouldn't have to search for the next blank page. When the she opened the book again there was yet another message waiting for written in what she hoped was red paint with the culprit's red fingerprints streaked at the corner of the page.

_"So what you trying to do to me?_   
_It's like we can't stop we're enemies._   
_But we get along when I'm inside you..._   
_You're like a drug that's killing me,_   
_I cut you out entirely._   
_But I get so high when I'm inside you..."_

In panic, (Name) sprung out of her chair and stumbled away from the blood smeared page, catching the attention of her entire class including the teacher. They looked up at (Name), whispering and snickering amongst themselves. (Name) looked up and saw the teacher raise a skeptical eyebrow in her direction, but then promptly went back to reading their newspaper when they didn't see anything suspicious.

(Name) sat back down at her desk, not caring about her classmates glances and snickers. She closed her notebook and stuffed it into her bag and rested her head in her arms, trying to think about anything else. But before she could wipe those messages from her mind she heard footsteps coming her direction. She looked up and saw one of her very few friends she had at school, Arthur Kirkland. He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Everything alright poppet? What gave such a fright?" He asked raising a concerned brow.

"It's -," (Name) thought about telling him about the messages, but didn't want to waste his time talking about what was probably an elaborate prank, or what she hoped was an elaborate prank, "It's nothing. I've just been a bit jumpy this morning."

Arthur pursed his lips not accepting her answer, but not wanting to push her, "Oh yes, I found this in my locker this morning, it's addressed to you," He handed (Name) a folded slip of paper, "Must've gotten our lockers confused for one another."

"Did you read it?" (Name) asked.

"Of course not, it isn't polite to open something addressed to someone else," The bell rang and their other classmates started filing out to their next class. 

"I'll talk to you later (Name)," He said and gave a curt wave before heading to his desk to retrieve his belongings.

When he left, (Name) opened the folded note and saw the same handwriting as the previous notes, this time written and thin black ink.

_"Yeah, you can start over, you can run free,_   
_You can find other fish in the sea._   
_You can pretend it's meant to be,_   
_But you can't stay away from me..._   
_I can still hear you making that sound._   
_Taking me down, rolling on the ground._   
_You can pretend that it was me..."_

(Name) saw something fall to the ground from inside the paper and bent down to grab it. It was a picture of her and Arthur smiling and talking to each other, but there was a big red X over Arthur's face. Terrified, she flipped the picture over and saw two words on the back in the same bloody lettering as in her notebook.

_"But no..."_


	2. Chapter 2

(Name) quickly stuffed the note and picture into her bag and bolted outside, trying to get to her next class on time. She already took up more than half of the passing period talking with Arthur and reading that deranged message. Her class was across campus from where she was right now. The halls were virtually empty by now, only a few stragglers and ditchers sprinkled the halls, so it only made sense for her to run. 

_There's not anyone to run into right now anyway,_ She thought. But in her rush she didn't notice someone in her way and slammed right into them. Before she could hit the ground she felt two strong arms grab her waist and left arm and catch her from falling, leaning her against their strong torso. 

"Whoa," Her savior said with a chuckle, "That was some strong run-in. Ever think of joining the football team as offensive tackle?" 

(Name) looked up and saw the same blue-eyed blonde from this morning, "Sorry 'bout that," She said, embarrassed that Alfred already helped her twice today.

"No prob," Alfred said and let go of her waist to grab something behind her shoulder. "What's this?" He held up piece of folded folder paper with tape on it with another message on it and gave it to (Name) who leaned away from Alfred's chest to read the note.

_"Baby, I'm preying on you tonight_  
_Hunt you down eat you alive_  
_Just like animals,_  
_Animals,_  
_Like animals..._

_Maybe you think that you can hide_  
_I can smell your scent from miles_  
_Just like animals,_  
_Animals,_  
_Like animals..._  
_Baby, I'm..."_

She crumpled up the paper and stuffed it inside her bag just as the late bell rang. She mumbled a quick obscenity and said a quick word of thanks to Alfred before running to her next class.

The class hadn't settled down yet and the teacher wasn't there either, (Name) breathed a sigh of relief; she was safe, this time at least. She sat down at her assigned desk and waited for the teacher to arrive so she wouldn't have to think about those disturbing messages. She looked at the clock and watched the seconds tick by; 1 minute, 5 minutes, 20 minutes... She looked around saw that the other students were confused as she was. Class was almost halfway over but their teacher was no where to be found.

(Name) sighed in displeasure, she really liked this class too. The teacher was really nice, he gave out fun assignments, and his lectures are actually fairly interesting, unlike the other 50 teachers at this school who were practically voice recordings of the textbook. She talked to this teacher fairly often outside of class, he was one of the coolest people in the entire school in her opinion. They liked the same shows and books and hated the same students and douche celebrities. He was one of the only people she liked talking to outside of the classroom setting.

Another 30 minutes passed, class was more than halfway over and the teacher still hadn't appeared. The other students were starting to get antsy, creating wild conspiracies as to why the teacher had gone MIA. (Name) laughed to herself as one student had convinced themselves that their teacher was a double agent working for the Chinese government to corrupt the younger American population to do their bidding, to which several of her classmates responded by explaining the ethnic differences between China and Japan.

In the midst of all the ridiculous accusations, there was a faint knock on the door. Everyone quickly sat down, expecting the teacher to walk in, but instead one of the workers from the front office peered inside.

"Is there someone named: (First Name) (Middle Name(s)) (Last Name) here?" They asked reading from a slip of paper.

(Name) stood up from her seat, baffled as to why someone from the office would ask for her, "I'm here. Is something wrong?"

"Not at all, you have a delivery Miss (Last Name)," they said holding out a single rose with a note attached to it.

(Name), even more bewildered than before, stood up to retrieve it then promptly returned to her seat, ignoring the glances and comments from her classmates. The rose was a dark red, but the petals were starting to wilt, turning black at the edges. She admired the flower for a bit more, then her eyes drifted to the note. Without thinking of previous events, she opened the card, hoping to find out who the sender was.

It took a millisecond for (Name) to finally fully grasp the situation she was in.

_"So if I run it's not enough,_  
_You're still in my head forever stuck._  
_So you can do what you wanna do..._  
_I love your lies, I'll eat 'em up._  
_But don't deny the animal,_  
_That comes alive when I'm inside you..."_

She quickly dropped the rose and covered her mouth to muffle a yelp of fear. She was absolutely convinced this wasn't a prank, and she was more scared than she ever was in her life. Between the graffiti in her locker, the x over the picture of Arthur, and this rose she was certain that this wasn't just some kid trying to scare her.

She had a stalker.

It was the only explanation of all the facts; their knowing of her locker combination, her classes, where she sat in class, even her full name, which only close family knew. It also explained the threatening nature against Arthur, one of her only male friends as well as why they would have taken a picture of her; they were being possessive. She shivered at the thought. She didn't know if she should talk to someone about this; what if they got hurt because they became involved? Who did she trust enough to talk to about something like this? She looked up at the teacher's desk, silently cursing that he wasn't here today, he would listen to her; he always did. 

Then a truly horrifying thought hit her.

_Did he get hurt because of his relationship with me? If someone misconstrued my relationship with Arthur as a potential romantic partner and became possessive, there's a chance they did the same with my teacher,_ She thought. Before she could panic anymore, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch. Students filed out of the classroom, still wondering where the teacher was.

She sat at her desk for a while, unsure what to do. She sighed for what felt like the millionth time today and grabbed her bag to head to the cafeteria. Usually, she would've stayed in the classroom during the lunch period, shooting the breeze with her teacher about anything really. The newest installment of their favorite series and the infuriating actions of the characters, or the stupid things her classmates say. But since he was MIA, she was forced out of the room and down the emptied halls.

When she finally arrived at the cafeteria all of the tables were filled with people, most of which she didn't know, and probably never have the "pleasure" of knowing. There was room to sit nearly anywhere, but just not alone like (Name) had preferred. She looked around for anyone she knew well enough to sit next to. Arthur was the first person who came to mind, but now conscious that someone was watching her every move, she decided against it, not wanting to put him in anymore danger than he was already in. 

_Besides,_ She thought, _His friends don't really like me anyway. I'm already being watched by a maniac, I don't feel like having more eyes on me._

Names of present and former classmates, neighbors, acquaintances; anyone (Name) knew even vaguely ran through her head. But she either found some reason not to sit next to them or there was no room next to them. She looked around and contemplated just sitting on the floor to avoid anymore unnecessary drama, she may get a few glances but it was better than sitting next to a complete stranger. 

She slumped down in the corner of the cafeteria, out of the way and away from the crowd, and opened her lunch bag. She took a bite of her sandwich and instantly regretted it. _Mom always said food tastes bitter alone, I guess she's right,_ She thought and, without thinking, took another mouthful, just wanting to get the meal over with.

"Lonely, PBJ?" A voice said from above her. She looked up and saw the guy she's been running into all day: Alfred Jones. He smiled, towering over her, and she couldn't help but lightly smile back. He had a smile that seemed to have an irresistible prejudice in your favor.

"PBJ?" (Name) asked with a light chuckle.

"Your sandwich," He said, pointing at the meal in question.

She was about to [ask how he knew/correct him], when he suddenly sunk down next to her. Pulling out a soda and drinking it silently next to her. There was a moment of awkward silence between them, (Name) was too surprised to respond; just as Alfred predicted she would. He kept drinking his soda seeing how long she could last the tension between them, knowing all the questions slowly building in her head; all of which she would figure out in due time. 

_But for now I can't do anything too rash_ , Alfred thought. _It would be a shame if all my preparation would go to waste. And I would especially hate to have to get rid of this one._ Alfred was about to break the silence with some stupid sounding comment about her sitting all alone on the floor, when (Name) did something he didn't expect.

"What brings you here, Mr. Alfred Jones?" She asked, biting into her sandwich.

It caught Alfred off guard, he didn't think she even knew his first name, let alone his full name. His mind reeled for a moment, trying to think of some kind of response.

"You just looked lonely, is all. You should never eat when you're lonely," Alfred said, trying to maintain his composure.

"And why is that?" She replied.

"Food tastes bitter when you're alone."

(Name)'s eyes widened a bit, but quickly darted away from Alfred, hoping to hide her shock. He basically read her mind, and with all the things that were happening right now, the thought of someone reading her mind was unwelcome. She reached into her bag to check for anything else that she could snack on. She felt a piece of paper brush her fingertips.

_Oh no,_ She thought, _another note?_ She pulled her hand out of the bag in shock, earning a sideways glance from Alfred. 

"What's wrong?" He asked. "You look like you just saw a ghost. Is there something in you bag?" 

(Name) didn't respond, she was too shocked and scared to answer him. He reached into her bag and pulled out the note.

_"Yeah, you can start over, you can run free,_  
_You can find other fish in the sea._  
_You can pretend it's meant to be,_  
_But you can't stay away from me..._  
_I can still hear you making that sound._  
_Taking me down, rolling on the ground._  
_You can pretend that it was me..._  
_But no..."_

"What's this?" Alfred asked, feigning shock. "This is really creepy. Really possessive sounding. Ex boyfriend troubles?"

She snatched the paper from him, and stuffed it back in the lunch bag. "I wish," She mumbled. "At least then I would know who it was."

Alfred's mind was reeling. He could barely control himself at this point, he just wanted to grab her and keep her for himself. His urges and instincts told him to do it, but he knew that she wouldn't willingly stay at this state. The best thing to do right now was remove himself from the situation to avoid any irreversible complications. But yet again fate seemed to work in his favor to keep him from doing anything he would regret.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. Alfred quietly sighed in relief and said a quick "See 'ya," to (Name) as he headed towards his next class. Keeping her in his peripheral vision until she disappeared into the crowd.

_Soon,_ He thought. _Very soon._


	3. Chapter 3

No matter how much (Name) tried to shake the feeling of eyes on her, she simply couldn't. She was unable to distinguish between a case of paranoia and her natural survival instincts, and it didn't help that a lot of her classmates have noticed her odd behavior throughout the day and were now giving her sideways glances, expecting her to flip out at a moment's notice. Taking a steady breath to calm herself down, she hurried to her next class and sat down. Letting her eyes wander, she tried to convince herself that nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen from this point on. No person, stalker or not, would go through this much trouble to try to freak her out, and wouldn't try further than this. She thought it was clear to them that she got their point. Maybe they would stop and let her ride her paranoia out for the rest of the day.

_Or maybe my entire life,_ she thought hopefully.

Class started soon enough and everything ran as it normally did; the teacher took attendance, ran through answers of the homework which half the class "left at home," they walked them through the new lesson where the same half played on their phones or chatted amongst themselves, and left them to there own devises to work on the homework before the bell rang. Before she knew it class was over and she meandered to the last period of the day.

Although she had hoped that her stalker would leave her alone, it left her more unsettled than ever. Where were they now? Did she do something to offend them? What were they planning? These questions were even more nagging than the other were because now she actually had time to think up all the horrific possible answers.

Her last class was already filled by the time she got there, not unusual, her class was all the way on the other side of the building and two floors above, it was common knowledge that she got there last. But today she could feel every single pair of eyes pierce holes in her skin the moment she walked in. She told herself that it was paranoia, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that the entire world knew something she didn't. She sat down at an empty desk, not even caring that she was surrounded by other people. With the day she was having, having other people around her made her feel a bit safer. Humans are social creatures after all. 

"(Name)," a voice said from across the aisle. She turned to see one of Arthur's friends, Kiku, and leaned over to hear his voice a little better. Kiku was the only one of Arthur's friends that didn't dislike her, at least outwardly. He had always been polite and kind to her, making him the closest thing to a friend she had in this class.

"Arthur asked me to check on you," he said. "He said that you seemed a bit anxious. Is something wrong?" 

(Name) was really touched that Arthur was worried about her, she thought he'd forget the incident by now. But rethinking it, she also was worried that he would cause unnecessary attention to himself and become more of a target than he already was. No matter how much she wanted to talk to him about her situation, she had to keep it a secret to protect him.

"I'm fine," she lied. "Nothing's wrong. I just watched a horror movie last night."

Kiku looked at her with the same look Arthur did this morning, though she (again) didn't notice. While he didn't know (Name) as well as Arthur did, he was a human lie detector who had a knack for sensing the atmosphere. He could tell that she was lying through her teeth, but not why she would. It was obvious that something was bothering her, and it wasn't the normal things like forgetting her homework at home or pissing off an administrator, it was serious. Shifting his eyes back to the front of the room, he pondered all the possible outcomes of pressing her a bit more. _She would probably deny that something is wrong, maybe even try to prove her "horror movie" story. Either way she is obviously avoiding something._ He glanced back at her as she doodled in her notebook as the teacher rambled on about a topic they already covered. _She won't tell me what is wrong anytime soon, so I suppose I have to ask around._

The teacher told the class that they had free time for the last half-an-hour of class then went to their desk to grade their homework. Instead of pressing (Name) more, Kiku went to a group of students he overheard talking about her earlier, they would be much easier to get information out of. He talked to the group for a while and heard about several strange events that happened today: strange writing in her locker, rose delivery in the middle of class, notes stuck on the window, and a few others.

_I do not like this at all,_ Kiku whipped out his phone. _I will text Arthur to walk her home with me, I do not think she is completely safe at the moment._

"Speaking of (Name), could you give this to her?" One of the group members said, holding out a piece of folded paper with her name on it. "My friend found it on the floor earlier today."

Kiku grabbed the letter and thanked them, anxious to see it's contents. While he was worried for (Name), he also wanted to see how this played out. It had the makings of an interesting fanfic. 

He dismissed himself from the group and went to an empty desk away from the other students to read the note.

_"Baby, I'm preying on you tonight,_   
_Hunt you down eat you alive._   
_Just like animals,_   
_Animals,_   
_Like animals..._

_Maybe you think that you can hide,_   
_I can smell your scent from miles._   
_Just like animals,_   
_Animals,_   
_Like animals..._   
_Baby I'm..."_

His eyes widened, this was worse than he thought. Not only was it in the same vein that the other notes supposedly were, it was much more possessive and delusional than he had originally assumed.

_It would be best to show (Name) this. She deserves to know,_ he thought and walked over to show her the note and curtly explain what he now knew.

(Name) was outwardly unfazed of the notes contents, but to Kiku it was clear that an internal monologue was running through her brain right now. And although he didn't usually like physical contact, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder paired with one of his rare smiles. (Name) smiled back at him, thankful that someone seemed to know about the situation she was in. While she was still scared to talk about it, she felt like she didn't need to; at least, not at the moment.

School finally ended, and as Kiku asked, Arthur arrived outside their classroom door a few minutes later to walk (Name) home. Following the flow of students, they walked through the school side by side without a single word exchanged. It wasn't until they reached the first flight of stairs did (Name) finally speak up.

"You guys don't have to walk me home you know," she said, avoiding their concerned gazes. "My house isn't far from here."

"Don't be silly love," Arthur ruffled her hair. "True gentlemen walk a lady home where she is safe."

"And it is not like you can stop us from doing so," Kiku added.

She smiled, glad she had at least two people in this school she could count on the be there for her.

But her happiness was short lived.

They reached the second flight of stairs, the crowd thinned out considerably, there was only a dozen other students with them. Just as they started to descend, someone's hands found their way to Kiku and Arthur's shoulders. They turned to see who it was, but before they could recognize their face, they pushed them down the stairs and bolted off, tugging their hoodie over their face to hide a sickening twisted smile. They tried to keep their balance, but to no avail. They tumbled down toward where the stairs met the building's wall. Arthur, unable to catch himself, hit his head on the wall and held it in pain. Kiku instinctually turned his body to protect his head, landing on his back. He groaned in pain and struggled to breathe.

"Arthur! Kiku! What happened?" (Name) said, rushing to their side.

"Nothing (Name)," Arthur rasped, not wanting to tell her the truth. "We just lost our balance is all."

(Name) was about to argue with him, knowing he just blatantly lied to her, when she saw something on his shoulder. Something that wasn't supposed to be there. 

_"Don't tell no lie-lie-lie-lie._   
_You can't deny-ny-ny-ny,_   
_The beast inside-side-side-side..._   
_Yeah. Yeah. Yeah."_


	4. Chapter 4

(Name) ran home as fast as her legs could carry her, no matter who saw, or how much her muscles screamed in protest. She felt tears threatening to fall and sweat pouring from her body, but she didn't care. All she cared about was getting far away from that wretched school that gave her nothing but misery today. She would've ran all they way home if she didn't slam in to somebody. A familiar somebody.

She hit them with full force, knocking both her and them to the ground. She fell to her hands and knees, her exhaustion finally catching up to her. Every breath she took hurt her chest even more than the last, like a weight on her chest slowly crushing her to death. She heard an awkward chuckle, but as much as she wanted to lift her head to apologize to them, she couldn't find the strength to lift her head or stop the tears from falling.

"That settles it. You have to join the football team," they said with an awkward laugh. They paused, seeing that she hadn't gotten up yet. They put a hand on her shoulder and kneeled to see her face, "Hey, are you okay?"

She couldn't help it, with all that had happened today she didn't know what else to do, she was emotionally and mentally distressed. Her tears fell to the pavement quietly, no sound coming from her. The person she bumped into noticed this, and gasped quietly. They slowly lifted her up, until she was facing them. Her (eye color) eyes met their brilliant blue ones.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" He asked, acting as if he didn't know perfectly well. "Are you hurt?"

(Name) shook her head, turning her eyes to the ground. "It's nothing," She managed to stutter, tears still falling. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. What's wrong? C'mon PBJ," He said, hoping to cheer her up with the nickname he'd given her at lunch, "you can tell me."

(Name) was about to dismiss him once again, but couldn't find the strength to, she couldn't find the strength to do anything. All of the fears that terrorized her all day finally welled up inside of her. She couldn't help herself. She cried. She cried more fully and more intensely than she's ever done before. He paused, caught off guard by her sudden outburst, but quickly held her close in an attempt to comfort her. She gripped his chest, trying to find comfort in his warmth. 

A drop of water fell from the sky, and the rain concealed in the gray clouds finally came down. Soon everything was drenched in rain. He silently cursed to himself for not bringing an umbrella. He had accounted for everything, except for the weather. They sat in the rain until they were completely drenched, and even then, they stayed there. They stayed there until (Name) finally calmed down. The streets were empty now, all the other students had all run past them trying to stay dry.

Alfred looked down at (Name), who finally let go of his shirt. He helped her up gently, and grabbed both of their bags. They walked silently in the rain until they finally reached his house. He stopped and guided her to it, opening the front gate for her

"You can stay at my place for now. I'll walk you home when the rain lightens up," He said with a slight smile. 

(Name) nodded in response and silently entered his house. The windows were letting in gloomy white light, and the sound of rain hitting the windowpane filled the air. Alfred sat her down at a table and went to the kitchen to make something warm for them to drink. He came back a couple of minutes later with two cups of [tea/hot chocolate] and towels. He placed the cup in front of her, and she jumped slightly at the sudden noise. He pursed his lips, she was already showing symptoms of victims of stalking. 

He wondered if she knew, even subconsciously, that he was behind the notes. He couldn't have that. He put the towel on her head, and sat down across from her as he started to dry his hair. (Name) took a sip of the [tea/hot chocolate] and put it back on the table, keeping the towel on her head. They sat in silence for a while, the rain still hitting the window pane as fervently as before.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," (Name) finally said, "I'm not usually like that."

_I know,_ Alfred thought, _I know better than anyone._ He smiled politely at (Name), who couldn't help but smile in response.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you feel better now," He said calmly, hiding a whirlwind within. "Do you want to talk about it?"

(Name) shook her head, she didn't want to trouble him anymore than she already did. Alfred, on the other hand, refused to take 'no' for an answer. He pressed her a bit harder, but not too hard, but earned the same response. He immediately withdrew.

_In her state,_ He thought, _she won't be able to handle too much pressure, she'll break down like the others did. But nothing will progress if I just leave things as they are._

He gently put his hands on her head, drying her hair when he saw that she would make no effort to do it herself. He became hyperaware of his body and movements. He made sure his hands stayed on the towel, moving it slowly and gently through her hair. His own hair was still sopping wet, but he couldn't care less. Not wanting to provoke her, her resisted the urge to touch her hair to see if it was dry. He took a soft sip of his drink and sat at the other side of the table, and resumed drying his hair once more.

"Thank you," She said quietly, "again..."

He smiled and nodded in response, then turned his attention away from her to the window on the other side of the room, looking back at her every so often to check if she was there. The sun began to set; how he could tell, he didn't know. The skewers so dark that barely any sunlight shone through the clouds. But as day turned to dusk, they still sat at the table, not a word passed between the two. The rain was still pouring relentlessly onto the now flooded earth, and showed no signs of letting up. Alfred put his chin in his hand and smiled inwardly. 

_This rain is actually giving me quite an advantage,_ he thought. _Now I don't have to give a bullshit excuse to convince her to stay the night. It's already sunset, and still pouring; there's no way any sane person will let her go out in that._

Dusk quickly turned to night. Alfred noticed her calming down considerably, finally lifting her head out of her hands and straightening her back. He smiled politely once again, hoping to see her smile. She gave him a timid half-smile, then quickly looked else where. It was good enough for him. He stood up, itching to progress, but knowing that he has to be careful not to push too strongly.

"Do you want something to eat?" Alfred asked, breaking the long present silence. "I can order a pizza or something."

She politely declined, "You don't have to do that. I'm fine."

"You may be fine, but I'm starving," He said jokingly, rubbing his stomach. "And I'll feel bad if I'm the only one eating."

"Are you sure?" 

"Positive."

She nodded appreciatively, and watched him as Alfred grabbed his phone of his soaked bag. 

Alfred wasn't excessively worried of his belongings getting wet, the only thing of actual value was his phone, and he knew the only thing that would break it would be a hammer to it's screen. He grimaced at the memory, he hoped that (Name) wouldn't end up like that. Her disposing was an excessive pain, especially after receiving a hard hit to his hip bone. If it weren't for his phone he was sure that his bone could've been hurt pretty badly, which would've caused even more work for him. Bullshitting a doctor is one of the most painstaking things he does. 

They waited in silence for a while, until the door bell rang, shattering the peace. Alfred went to answer the door, cash in one hand and pen in another. As he pulled up his hood as he exited the house and closed the door behind him, making sure there was no way she could see what he was doing. He paid the delivery girl, not bothering to open the short gate between them. The delivery girl attempted to flirt with Alfred, but he ignored her and gave her a hefty tip, not wanting to have to deal with change. Once she left, he made his way under the patio. Once he knew it was dry, he opened the top cover, and quickly scribbled something inside of it, not wanting to keep her waiting for too long.

He closed the box and walked back inside, (Name) had gotten up from her spot on the table, and was now walking around, stretching and massaging the knots out her body as she did so. Alfred let his eyes do a once-over of her form when she wasn't looking, as if he didn't know it perfectly already, but nothing more, dreading the consequences if he let himself do anymore. He closed the door, making his presence known.

"Grub's here," Alfred said, "and not a moment too soon. I feel like I could eat the fridge."

(Name) chuckled under her breath, and went to go sit down at the table. Alfred sat across from her, and opened the box. He morphed his expression to mimic on of surprise, but kept it restrained as much as he could, wanting her to notice, but not worry. At least not for now.

"That's weird..." He said, just barely loud enough to hear.

"What's weird?" She asked.

"Someone wrote something on the cover."

"What?" She asked curiously, walking to his side of the table to see it.

_"No, girl, don't lie-lie-lie-lie._   
_You can't deny-ny-ny-ny,_   
_The beast inside-side-side-side..._   
_Yeah. Yeah. Yeah."_


End file.
